ALBUM REVIEW — JACK WHITE

Jack White has been so busy over the past decade – releasing albums with the White Stripes, Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and producing everyone from ex-wife Karen Elson to Loretta Lynn to, um, Insane Clown Posse – it’s hard to believe that he’s just now getting around to his first solo album. And like pretty much everything else he’s done since the White Stripes’ 2001 breakthrough, Blunderbuss collects bluesy rock swagger, dinosaur garage thump, and enough guitar heroics to keep fret-worshipers busy for the next few months learning the tabs. The musical grab bag, which at times sounds like an outpouring of bottled-up ideas, includes riffs (“Sixteen Saltines”), soul (“Love Interruption”), and a gospel-kissed cover of Little Willie John’s “I’m Shakin’.” It’s the same old White in new wrappings – weird and kinda wonderful.